


Local Eco-Strong Community
Activities & Initiative Ideas:
Ready to Start Something New?
It's great to be a part of virtual groups that touch the lives of people all over the world. However, local gatherings are where the hands-on action happens and where resources are truly needed if we want to help everyone participate in the action to save our planet. At GoGreenLocally, we are committed to bringing together tools and resources that locals gathering together need to be successful, enjoyable, and, most importantly - effective!
See the resources listed below if you are ready to start a new group/organization or help your existing group take on some new activities. There are so many wonderful organizations and local actionists doing the same thing across the nation that are also willing to answer questions and help your group move your whole town or city to greater sustainability and cleaning, protecting, and restoring the earth.
Ideas for All Types of Interests:
-
Clothing resourceful - learn simple repairs, how to swap and upcycle clothing
-
Reducing food waste – directing excess food to community food hubs
-
Greening events: compostable or reusable dishes, composting food waste, etc.
-
Community garden promoters - help people plan, organize and implement new shared gardens.
-
Help plan, build, or retrofit eco-friendly housing and co-housing communities.
1. Soil Building from the Ground UP - Regenerative Earth Projects
-
This type of group can gather resources together to create beneficial microbially-active compost. The compost can be used to help in creating new gardens or be used to create compost tea which can be injected into soils of existing gardens with heavily degraded soils. Community events can help educate the public as well as giving people material lists to do it on their own. The mission is using microbial life in the soil to create carbon sinks, enhance moisture-retention, and build up greater productivity in gardens and farms. This type of group might also work on getting businesses, local government, farms and municipal waste facilities to sign on and support these projects as well.
-
Current examples https://common.earth/examples
-
Another example https://www.treehugger.com/the-th-interview-penny-eastwood-of-treesponsibility-4848528
2. Pollinator and Native Gardening
-
Groups grow and gather native plants - perennial & annual pollinator-friendly flowering plants that are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides to share and plant throughout the community.
-
Recycled planting containers placed around small business districts & sponsored by local businesses help create beauty and support for native pollinators.
3. Reuse/Repurpose Creative Arts and Design DIY
-
Groups get together and help each other and community members to meet functional needs by reusing and repurposing broken items, items purchased second-hand or someone's discards.
-
People enjoy the fun of the creative process, help inspire each other by sharing their ideas, and coming up with useful solutions to meet needs and add beauty to their homes and businesses.
4. Clothing Reuse, Swaps, Upcycling
-
Groups get together and bring clothing they are no longer wearing or don't fit any longer to swap with others who have brought the same.
-
Upcyling designers make repairs or additions to make new outfits that look even better than they started as.
5. Making Your Own Clean and Green Personal Care and Cleaning Products
-
Make products together for yourselves, for gifts, or a small business to serve the local community
6. Waste Not – Great Strategic Food Sharing
-
A great inspiration for this type of group is to see the film called "Wasted" available for rent or purchase online. There are so many amazing ideas of what can be done to reduce waste, find great uses for it in the community and strategies to make win-win situations for everyone by thinking outside of the box.
-
These groups can work with non-profits, markets and restaurants to help find ways to solve some of the local challenges.
7. Greening Local Events
-
Make local events more sustainable by organizing and working together with event organizers to recycle food wastes, use compostable serving ware, and other strategies to reduce trash.
8. Local Green Community Support
-
Help people in the community get to know and support local farmers, small green businesses, and nonprofits. Promote local events like farmer's markets and farm-to-table events that facilitate people getting to know producers better.
9/10. Local Edible Landscaping, Eco-Tours, & Community Gardens
-
Growing food in available spaces like city service buildings, church and school grounds, and city lots.
11. Government Policy Green-Ups Groups
-
Local citizens can meet and share ideas together for local governments to move towards supporting greener policies and practices. People with creative solutions, as well as community social program backgrounds, law or local government experience can be helpful for these groups to bring about policies with greater environmental stewardship and sustainability. Any person that is outgoing and ready to raise their hand and show up at city council meetings is great to help express the needs of all in the community.
12. Green Co-Housing Community Building Groups
-
Groups can help people to find local resources to build organized intentional co-housing green communities. This can be done by organizing resource reference information as well as holding gatherings for people to meet each other and move towards the intention of building new communities.
-
This is a Facebook helping to foster Eco Villages and Sustainable Communities: https://www.facebook.com/groups/EcoVillagesandSustainableCommunities/
-
13. Non-Toxic Neighborhoods Parent Groups
-
Projects like this exist all over the nation. Put together a few neighbors or friends from your church group, children's school, or others, and check out this organization that totally supports you with information for the whole process. "We inspire global participation in one community at a time for future generations. To date, Non-Toxic Neighborhoods has partnered with over 65 cities, counties, school districts, and universities across the country, to enormous success. We’re proud to report that not a single partner community has resumed the use of synthetic pesticides!"
-
"Get support to start your own group here: Email Non-Toxic Neighborhoods to get your team started: team@nontoxicneighborhoods.org
-
Visit their website: https://nontoxicneighborhoods.org/
-
14. Community Sharing Ideas
-
Buy Nothing Project Neighborhood Groups
-
A Gift Economy's real wealth is the people involved and the web of connections that form to support them. Welcome! Have fun and get to know the real life neighbors in your community. BuyNothing helps you give away things and skills others could use and ask for things within your hyper local community. All for free, no strings. Build new friendships and build your community.
-
How to Add Local Groups & Nonprofits Directory Listings:
To add a group listing go to the "Groups and Nonprofits" page in your local hub. You will find a button next to the search bar that says, "+ Add a Group or Nonprofit". When you click this button you will be directed to the sign-in page. After you finish signing in, the form will open. After clicking "live" and filling out the form, your group will now display in the directory. This procedure is the same for adding your local events, projects, online resources, and green businesses to the local hub. See our "How to Add Listings" menu page for how-to videos.
How to Add Event Listings to the Local Green Event Directory:
To add an event listing go to the "Events" page in your local hub. You will find a button that says, "+ Add an Event". When you click this button you will be directed to the sign-in page. After you finish signing in, the form will open. After clicking "live" and filling out the form, your group will now display in the directory. This procedure is the same for adding your local groups, projects, online resources, and green businesses to the local hub.
All events in local online hub directories are emailed to local subscribers. So encourage your group to subscribe and learn about all of the local events by becoming subscribers of gogreenlocally.org.
Free Customizable WIX Websites for New Green Groups :
If a group website would be helpful to organize your membership, meetings, and information, then we can sign over a free group WIX customizable website that you can continue to use for free (without domain name). Or purchase a web hosting WIX plan if you want to add your own website domain name at a later time. The four buttons below will direct you to examples of free group sites that can be customized for your own group. The WIX website template sites below are not part of gogreenlocally.org.